Another team left the town of Cary on Thursday with their team flag in tow, as Tampa upended Henderson State to end the Reddies' season. However, on the other side of the bracket, Cal Poly Pomona kept their season alive with an impressive performance against Catawba to force a winner-take-all game on Friday.
Thursday, May 28th (Elimination Game for HSU)
Tampa - 5
Henderson State - 2
Box Score
Henderson State's immaculate run through the postseason came to an end, but it wasn't without a fight. Facing the top team in the land, the Reddies held strong, but were unable to hold the vaunted Spartan offense down.
Tampa picked up single runs in the first, third and fourth innings before putting the game away with a two-run sixth.
Andrew Amaro began the bottom of the first for the Spartans with a double in the left field gap, moved to third on a groundout, then trotted home on a Stephen Dezzi RBI single to center field to make it 1-0.
In the third inning, Casey Scoggins singled to lead off, moved to second on a Dezzi walk, then moved to third on a flyout. With two outs, Nick Flair brought the second run in with an RBI single through the right side of the infield, pushing the lead to 2-0.
Jay Hawley's day on the mound came to an end in the bottom of the fourth, as Nick Tindall led off the frame with a double. Ryan Black came in and induced a groundout, but Tindall moved to third with one out. After a walk to Scoggins, Dezzi picked up an RBI with a groundout to first that pushed the lead out to 3-0.
In the HSU sixth inning, the Reddies made the run they have been making throughout this postseason. One of the hottest hitters in Cary, Hunter Mayall, led off the inning with a single, then moved to third when Claude Johnson doubled in to the left field gap. After Jordan Taylor was hit by a pitch to load the bases, the Reddies were poised for a big inning.
Give credit to Tampa, however, as they mostly limited the damage. An RBI groundout from Lance Fields brought the first run in, and a Hayden Lessenberry RBI single to left field made it a 3-2 game, but that is all that the Spartans would allow in the inning.
As experienced teams tend to do, Tampa came out firing in the next half-inning. Tindall walked to begin the frame, and Andrew Amaro reached first on an error from a sacrifice bunt attempt to put two on with nobody out. Colton Lorance, game one winner in the tournament, came on to the mound, but walked two straight batters, the second of which was to Dezzi, which brought in another run to make it a 4-2 game. With the bases still loaded, Giovanny Alfonzo lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to make it 5-2.
Tampa threatened to put more on the board in the seventh, loading the bases with nobody out, but Josh Henderson kept HSU in the game by inducing a line drive double play and a foul out to end the inning.
Unfortunately for the Reddies, they couldn't find the big hit to draw closer to Tampa in the final few innings, as Tampa wrapped up the 5-2 victory.
Brad Hencke (8-1) picked up the win for the Spartans on the mound, going 5.1 innings, allowing three hits and two runs with a pair of walks and four strikeouts. Taylor Brookes (0.1 IP) and Dylan Barrow (3.1 IP) contributed four innings of shutout relief, with Barrow picking up his fifth save of the year.
Dezzi was only 1-for-3 on the day, but he picked up 3 RBI. Flair was the only Spartan hitter with multiple hits, going 2-for-4 with an RBI. Tindall was 1-for-1 with a pair of walks and scored twice to go along with his 17th double of the season, while Amaro was 1-for-4 but also scored twice.
Johnson was the only multi-hit recipient for the Reddies, going 2-for-3 with a walk, a run scored and his 14th double of the year.
Tampa yet again finds themselves playing for a national title. The Spartans move on to Saturday, where they will await the winner of the Cal Poly Pomona/Catawba game. Tampa will have to lose two consecutive games on Saturday to not be crowned champions.
Thursday, May 28th (Elimination Game for CPP)
Cal Poly Pomona - 11
Catawba - 2
Box Score
All cylinders were firing for Cal Poly Pomona in this game, as the Broncos turned in probably the best performance of any team in Cary thus far.
Max Bethell (8-3) took a no-hitter in to the seventh inning against Catawba, one of the best offenses in the country, and left the game after 7.2 IP with only one hit allowed and a pair of walks to go along with six strikeouts, earning the victory in the process.
The first two innings of the game were scoreless, but the Broncos offense exploded for five runs in the top of the third, as a parade of hitters just kept coming to the plate.
The inning began with a Jacob Bernardy walk, and the best hitter so far in the tournament, Kyle Garlick, followed with a single to put two on. Christian Kelley laid down an attempted sacrifice bunt, but the pitcher who fielded it opted to go for the out at third, and instead threw the ball away in to foul territory, allowing both Bernardy and Garlick to score to make it 2-0.
After a pair of outs, Mike Philp kept the train going with an RBI double down the left field line to score Kelley. Following a pitching change, Ryan Webberley tripled in to nearly the same area to score Philp, and the final run came in when Brennen Salgado singled home Webberley to make it 5-0.
Pomona poured on another run in the top of the fourth as Garlick hit a lead-off double, moved to third on a flyout and came in to score on a Nick Cooksey RBI double to make it 6-0.
The Broncos put another five-spot up on the scoreboard in the top of the sixth, as an error scored one run, a Cooksey RBI double scored another, a Matt Munoz RBI single scored another, and a pair of sacrifice flies from Philp and Salgado made it an 11-0 shelling.
Catawba's lone runs came in the bottom of the eighth, as Malachi Hanes hit a pinch-hit two-run homer over the scoreboard to make it 11-2, but that would be the only offense Catawba could get going.
The offensive numbers for Pomona were impressive, led by Garlick going 4-for-6 with three runs scored and his 16th double. Cooksey went 2-for-5 with a run and two RBI, Philp was 2-for-4 with a run and two RBI, Webberley was 3-for-5 with a run and an RBI, and Salgado was 1-for-4 with two RBI.
Pomona's 16-hit barrage forces the if-necessary game against Catawba on Friday at 3 p.m. Eastern, with the winner moving on to Saturday to battle Tampa for the national title.
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